Disclaimer: I do not own Fuburu (FruitsBasket). The wonderfully mercurial characters are the synapse impulses of Natsuki Takaya. My synapses are borrowing these characters with the understanding that I neither gain nor lose in the transaction. Enjoy.

Chapter 6: Evasions and Stealth Tactics

It had been two days since Hatori sat with Tohru in the garden. None of Shigure's three knew why Kagura had suddenly shown up at school. The three who lived in the main house weren't talking, and the Mabudachi Trio either didn't know, or weren't telling. Yuki and Kyo had talked about it in detail, but neither of them could come up with any solutions that didn't have Akito's nasty hands all over them. Whatever the reason, it wasn't for the benefit of the three of them.

Thursday afternoon found the two of them sitting in a tree and talking. Yuki didn't really like heights; but from where they were both sitting, they had good views in all directions. He also didn't like getting along with Kyo; but they both agreed it was better to make alliances with sworn enemies than with the devil.

"So Kyo, why are we meeting in this tree again? I know it has to do with Tohru."

"Yeah. From up here, we can see anyone headed our direction. If they can keep secrets, we can too." Kyo was whittling on a stick while Yuki chewed sunflower seeds, spitting the husks out onto the ground below. "Something funny is going on for Kagura to show back up at school, and we both agree that Akito is behind whatever devilry is going on."

"I agree. But the question becomes…what devilry IS going on?"

"If I knew, I'd have already gone over there and beaten those thoughts out of his head."

"Kyo, be reasonable. Why is Akito so interested in Tohru."

"Because he's a jealous, malicious demon." He sliced the stick deeper than he meant to, and he cussed before setting about adjusting the design to cover the flaw.

"Jealous. He's jealous." Yuki looked at Kyo, a rarely seen grin on his face.

"What?" Kyo sat up suddenly, nicking his finger with the knife. "Dammit!" Yuki grinning was scary.

"I know how to stop him this time." He popped another handful of seeds in his mouth.

"How?" Yuki pointed at his bulging cheeks. Kyo groaned in frustration. "Damned rat, you did that on purpose." He wasn't sure, but he thought that Yuki actually smiled. "Perverted beast."

After a moment, Yuki spit out a mouthful of empty husks. "I'm not perverted."

"Perversions come in all shapes and sizes. Not all of them deal with sex." Yuki raised a brow, interested to hear what this cretin thought about perversions. "Some of them have to do with TORTURING a certain comrade in arms by shoving your mouth too full to speak just as you come up with a possible solution to our dilemma."

"Ok, I'm a pervert then. Want to know my idea?"

"I'm all ears." He turned to look out over the area to make sure there were no other ears. Yuki did the same.

"We stay away from Tohru."

"WHAT?"

"You heard me. We stay away from her. Treat her as a sister, or better, an enemy." Kyo looked at Yuki like he was losing his mind. "Akito is jealous of Tohru. The only way to make him not jealous is to pretend like we don't like Tohru."

"So we just start ignoring her?"

"No, if we do that, then Akito will know we're doing it on purpose."

"This is damned confusing. I'm getting a headache." Kyo went back to whittling, at least it gave him an outlet for his frustrations.

"We get into a big fight with Tohru."

"But that'll hurt her."

"We'll tell her later why we did it, and beg forgiveness."

"I won't lower myself to beg."

"You damn well lowered yourself to get a little puff-puff action the other day."

Kyo blushed. "That was different. I was comforting her."

"Mmmm, whatever. Well, you have any other ideas?"

"Nope. I don't like it, but I don't like what Akito is doing either."

"Exactly." They bent heads together and figured out the details.

sssssss

When they walked into the house together, Shigure looked at them with curiosity. They were scuffed up, scratches everywhere. At Shigure's raised eyebrow, Yuki glared at Kyo. "Damned neko challenged me to another fight. We decided to take it outside so you wouldn't have to replace your rice screens again this week."

They turned and went separate ways, but neither acted like they normally did after a fight. Shigure cocked his head. I wonder what those two fools are up to now.

A/N: Mata. Go ahead and start gathering the tomatoes and rotten fruit, see you next week.